The last two New Jersey Devils games have looked like a lot of the same from last season and those before the most recent playoff appearance. If the poor play persists, should Tom Fitzgerald be getting worried about his position?
The summer of 2024 was marked by change for the New Jersey Devils and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald. New personnel, new head coach, new expectations for an organization that didn’t achieve their goals last year. With their performances the last two games, however, a lot of the bad feelings from last season are creeping back in, and I’m starting to wonder if Fitzgerald is feeling some heat beneath him. Fitzgerald has been at the helm now since the summer of 2020; this is his fifth season in charge of the team. The Devils don’t need to give up on him, especially if the team starts picking up their play soon (Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce will help), but there’s certainly more questions now than before as to if he’s the right voice to lead the organization.
Prior to tonight’s action, the New Jersey Devils sit with a record of 5-3-1, good for second in the division (by points percentage) with 11 points. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, not so much when you consider the number of teams that have a number of games in hand on them. Washington is only a point behind with three fewer games played; Carolina is five back, but has a whopping four games in hand at the moment. The Islanders and Columbus both sit five points back, but each also has three games in hand. I’m not saying all of those teams will jump the Devils in the standings, rather pointing out that with the head start the team had, we would all rather see them atop the division with at least a couple of these teams being incapable of jumping the Devils even if they won all of their games in hand.
What’s concerning related to those lost points is the way the Devils have looked. 14 goals have gotten past the Devils net minders in the last two games; the defense has looked pretty awful as well. The only positive here is that at least scoring isn’t an issue with 10 goals for between those two contests as well. Fitz is responsible for assembling this roster, and yes, not having what is essentially the team’s second defense pair is hurting bad right now. At the same time, you’d still like to see the Devils take another point or two from some of the games where they got one of none of them.
I would also argue that the two areas struggling (defense and to a lesser extent goaltending) are also related to an issue with Fitzgerald, mainly retaining certain coaches. We’ve discussed enough about how Dave Rogalski shouldn’t be here anymore, but Ryan McGill, who is in charge of the defense, seems to be wearing out his welcome as well. Again, he’s missing a whole pairing, but he still has a mostly NHL defense this season; he’s not coaching a group of mostly AHL-level fill-ins. Yes, there has to be accountability for players, but the same should apply to the professionals getting paid to create systems, have players prepared and make them better at their positions.
The largest concern has to be if the Devils turn in more performances like the last two; obviously some games are anomalies, but when the structures and systems of the team are questionable at best, you have to wonder if these last two were an anomaly or a forthcoming norm. If the latter holds true and the Devils miss the playoffs, it further cements the narrative that Fitz isn’t doing a good job and the one playoff appearance under his watch was a fluke buoyed by 13 game winning streak. The detractors of his current roster construction (shifting from speed/skill to skill/snarl) would also have validation if 2024-25 winds up being unsuccessful.
The good news? It’s early, and Pesce and Luke should be back soon enough to help reinforce a currently unstable defense group. We may have to revisit this discussion in a month or so if things don’t turn around, but for now, let’s take a breath, relax, hope Pesce and/or Luke play either tonight or tomorrow and see if the ship corrects course. And for those of you with torches under Fitz’s chair…put the away for now. His seat may need to heat up, but let’s see how the roster does at full strength before we get there.
What are your thoughts on the job status of Tom Fitzgerald; are you happy with what he has done and continues to do? Do you think sticking with some of the same coaches has affected his standing? Do you think he needs to be held more accountable for how the team he assembled is performing? Is this his last season in New Jersey if the team fails to make the playoffs again? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!